[News] A summit of the "Seven" in Hiroshima... Russia and China are at the top of the agenda

[Guest High King Eslam]

The leaders of the Group of Seven are meeting this week in Hiroshima (western Japan), to harden their tone in the face of Russia, 15 months after it invaded Ukraine, and to adopt a common approach towards the Chinese superpower.

The 3-day summit, starting Friday, will touch on all areas, from energy to industrial intelligence, but the focus will be on the loopholes that Moscow is exploiting to mitigate the impact of G7 sanctions on its economy. According to the French presidency, it is necessary at all costs to prevent "circumvention of sanctions that have a cost on our economies for the benefit of others."

The heads of state and government will approach Beijing cautiously, showing unity on Taiwan and a desire to make supply chains less dependent on China, while seeking to avoid raising tensions.

And the Elysee stressed that this “is not a summit of the Group of Seven against China,” and said: “We have a positive message to China that we are ready to cooperate, provided that we negotiate together.”

The meeting of the Group of Seven foreign ministers in April focused on Beijing with a warning of its "military activities" in the South China Sea. The ministers also insisted that there was "no change" in their position on Taiwan, after President Emmanuel Macron said upon his return from a trip to China that Europe "should not interfere in crises that are not (our) crises."

With regard to "economic security", it is expected that those gathered at the Hiroshima Summit will agree to withdraw important supply chains from Chinese influence. Washington had taken a tough stance in this regard, preventing Beijing from accessing the most advanced semiconductors and the equipment needed to manufacture them, and persuading Tokyo and The Hague to follow suit.

Risk reduction

"We seek a multidimensional approach to our economic relations with China," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday. And she emphasized that «this approach is characterized by risk reduction and not disengagement» with it.

Von der Leyen gave specific examples of Chinese attempts at economic coercion targeting Lithuania, Japan, and Australia. She added, “We are the most vulnerable to coercion … as the consequences accumulate. That is why we are taking action.”

The European Union recently angered Beijing by proposing to restrict exports of sensitive technology to eight Chinese companies suspected of shipping them to Russia. It is expected that the Hiroshima Summit will call for similar measures to fill the gaps in the sanctions imposed by the G7 countries (the United States, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada) on Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who recently toured Europe, will address the summit via video link.

Maria Sengovaya, a Russian specialist at the Center for International and Strategic Studies (Csis) in Washington, predicted that “the main issues will be compliance with and implementation of sanctions, especially in the non-aligned countries in the south, and the possibility of lowering the (Russian) oil price ceiling, which is what Ukraine is calling for.”
Anti-Western messages

An unusually long list of non-G7 invitees was drawn up, including the leaders of India, Brazil and Indonesia.

While the war in Ukraine has restored its importance to the Group of Seven, Japan and other countries in this group believe that additional efforts are needed to attract non-aligned countries that hesitate to take a position in the disputes with Moscow and Beijing, especially since the Group of Twenty reached a dead end with China and Russia oppose any reference to the war in Ukraine.

"Japan believes that the influence of China and, to a lesser extent, Russia, has increased in the countries of the South thanks to economic aid and their anti-Western messages," said expert Chris Johnston of the Center for International and Strategic Studies.

According to Japanese officials, the G7 is also expected to issue a declaration on nuclear disarmament in Hiroshima, which is an important topic for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who chose to organize the summit in this city that was destroyed by the first atomic bomb in history in 1945.

Source: Middle East

https://www.i3lam-al3arab.com/قمة-لـالسبع-في-هيروشيما-وروسيا-والص/